


Rub-A-Dub-Dixon

by Higgystar



Category: Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Gen, Kink Meme, gen - Freeform, group interaction, no pairings aside from canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-10
Updated: 2014-04-10
Packaged: 2018-01-18 22:08:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1444630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Higgystar/pseuds/Higgystar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt from the kink meme: Used to a life outdoors and living away from others, Daryl isn't exactly a fan of bathing. So he stinks and when the others get a chance to get clean themselves, they make it clear to Daryl that he needs to do the same. Unfortunately no one's ever really taught Daryl that a bath is more than just getting wet and splashing around. Fortunately Rick is willing to play teacher.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rub-A-Dub-Dixon

There are a lot of things the rest of the group do that Daryl just really doesn’t get. One of the things he notices the most is their obsession with the more trivial things even though they didn’t have time for it. He could understand the women needing various products at certain times of the month, that was reasonable and understandable, he knew that was something that had to be taken care of. However, when the Greene girls brush their teeth every morning with dry toothbrushes, spitting into the grass and running their pink tongues over their clean teeth, he just doesn’t get it. Who the fuck gave a damn about their teeth when they were fighting for their lives every day?

It made no sense to him, none at all. Lori brushes her hair everyday, Rick runs his hands over his stubble with a look of distaste every so often and even Carl tends to try and wash his hands everyday. Honestly he thinks these people are just wimps, now was not the time to care about appearance when they had other issues. Carol always seemed to have a packet of wet wipes in her gear to tidy them up, she’d even try to clean their clothes for them even though they were only going to get dirty again.

Daryl finds it strange to waste time and energy on something like that. So what if they were dirty? The walkers didn’t seem to care and when everyone else in the group was in the same boat, why did it seem to matter so much? He finds it so stupid to go on runs and waste time grabbing soaps and shampoos, hearing the rest of them all sound so joyous over finding sponges and loofas to use should they ever find a decent bath.

Personally he doesn’t care for bothering wasting time on something like personal hygiene. Clearly it wasn’t that important since he’d never really given much of a damn before all the walkers and heck he got by just fine. He spent too much time trying to stay away from his dad’s house to care about not being able to use the facilities. Besides bathing was pointless when he was just going to go and track some deer through the dirt, end up with twigs in his hair and sweat down his back. Why bother with something so pointless?

Sure he washed up sometimes, he’d always made sure to be decent enough for school when he went in, but this was Georgia, he was always going to end up covered in sweat and dust by the end of the day anyway. Besides, when it was a coin toss as to whether his dad had bothered to pay the water bills, he didn’t want to waste what fresh water he had on cleaning up.

Today had been a day of walking, scanning through their supplies and checking through the small corner stores they’d found in the few settlements in the area. He didn’t mind spending time stocking up, he rather be prepared for the future than left without anything they needed. But when he hears screams from the back of one of the stores he has his bow at the ready and is running to the Greene girls’ defence in a second.

When he finds them all grinning and clutching at a basket of perfumed goodies he rolls his eyes and heads back outside. How ridiculous. He’d thought they were in trouble and instead they were gushing over scented bubble bath and lotions and potions and whatever the hell else was in that damned basket.

When they all gather together to check off their lists and pack up their items he can’t stand the way they’re talking, normally he didn’t mind them at all, but when they’re all so focussed on something like this, it left them not checking on their defences. “Dunno what the hell the big deal is anyway. Walkers won’t appreciate that they get to eat you whilst you’re strawberry flavoured.”

“Gee Daryl Dixon doesn’t appreciate cleaning products, wonder why?” Maggie rolls her eyes, swinging the basket in the crook of her elbow and letting it nudge at his side.

“Coz I know what’s actually important.” He scoffs, shouldering his bow and wondering why Rick hasn’t put a stop to this. “Heck you damned girls go ahead and waste your time taking your bubble baths and washing your hair, whilst I do all the hard work and make sure nothing’s gonna bite your ass.”

Carol shrugs, pointing back up the road. “You know there actually was a pretty fresh spring not far up the way. Might be a good place to camp for the night and stock up on water.” Immediately the girls are all nodding, checking through the basket and looking hopeful. “We could take a break to get clean too.”

“Oh come on!” Daryl wonders if Carol is doing this just to annoy him. When the men join in the chorus of agreement Daryl feels lost and wonders when the world went completely stupid.

“Man I would love to actually feel human for once.” T-Dog rubs his hand over his head with a smile.

“I think I’ve forgotten what hair feels like when it’s not greasy.” Beth giggles, biting on her lower lip and hopping on the spot, clearly wanting to get going.

“We could give our clothes a quick rinse too, I dunno about you all but I swear my socks could probably walk off by themselves by now.” Glenn laughs, clearly enjoying the fresh banter between them all and the sense of lightness in the group.

Daryl kicks at the dirt and watches the perimeter since no one else is bothering. “This is a waste of time.”

“We do all stink pretty bad, I think this would make things feel a little more normal.” Lori strokes through Carl’s hair with a smile before pulling her fingers away at the feeling of it being so dirty.

“All right it’s decided.” Rick nods, his voice even as he looks round to them all before giving his instructions. “We go set up camp first and stock up on water, then we can have ourselves our own spa session.”

Daryl feels like the only sane man the entire way there and it doesn’t matter how many times Hershel tries to tell him how beneficial a good bath would be to not only the group’s moral but also to stave off any potential illnesses they could have picked up whilst living on the run. He snorts at that, a lifetime of being dirty hadn’t hurt him at all, why would it matter now? It made sense to clean wounds in case of infection, but anything other than that was just wasteful.

When they pull up at the natural spring and the small pool that surrounds it he gives a sigh, knuckling down his complaints and helping secure the area and restock their water supply. It’s something he can do and do well, making sure they’re all ready in case they need to get moving quickly. As he packs up their bottles and jars of water into the back of the truck he can hear the women all gathered together with that damned basket, smelling at bottles and giggling in excitement. Though he has to admit he hasn’t seen them this happy in a long time, and he guessed it was good to see them all smile whilst they could. Still, he thought it was a dumb thing to get so excited over.

“All right, looks like we’re all set.” Rick starts the fire, tossing a few sticks on it before standing with his hands on his hips and looking proud. “Why don’t you girls all go down first? Enjoy yourselves but always make sure there’s someone on watch, we can’t afford to get sloppy.”

Shaking his head and looking to the heavens for some kind of answer, Daryl spins on his heel and begins walking to the edge of camp. “Screw this, I’m going hunting.”

There’s no need for him to find anything today, they’ve already eaten well for lunch and he doesn’t want to scare away any animals if they need them tomorrow. But he knows Rick understands and that pretty much everyone in the group knows going hunting was his excuse to just get away for a while. He waves over his shoulder when Rick calls for him not to go too far and heads off into the bushes, needing to just be away from these people that thought so differently.

When he returns it’s to the sight and scent of some very clean and happy ladies. All of them are smiling, using an old towel to dry their hair as well as they can and Lori shares her comb to help brush out any knots. Shaking his head he notes that the other men are not present, clearly having decided to take their own turn at being pampered. Snorting in annoyance he moves to sit on the hood of the truck, leaning back against the windshield and keeping an eye out as the women try to catch his attention.

“It’s you’re turn next Daryl.” Carol’s voice is soft as always, but he snorts at the thought of it, not going to give in to her gentle ways this time.

“I don’t think so.”

“Are you serious? We actually have a chance to get almost completely clean and you don’t want to?” Beth laughs, her sister tugging on her hair and braiding it for her, tying it up for her and lying it flat between her shoulders. The young girl seems completely shocked to find him not wanting to waste time with a bath, as if it’s a crime against humanity.

“You really need to have a bath Daryl. At least whilst we have the chance.” Glenn is finger combing through his own hair, pressed against Maggie’s side and looking even more soft and relaxed than usual.

“No point.” He shrugs, hoping that’ll be the end of it.

“No point? You stink Daryl.” Well he has to admit Lori’s mood swings definitely let her hold nothing back. Still it’s not like he wasn’t used to it. “Seriously if we’re all clean and you’re still stinking, I’m not sharing a car with you.”

Rolling his eyes he crosses his feet, letting his heels thump to the hood of the car. “Then you’ll be walking.”

“What’s going on here?” Rick walks on over, shotgun over his shoulder clearly back from patrolling the area and checking for any dangers.

“Daryl doesn’t want to take a bath.” Glenn explains and Daryl is not shocked that Rick wants answers.

“How come?”

“What’s the point?” He asks, holding his hands out in an open gesture if anyone had a good enough reason. Shrugging it off he slips off the hood to lean against the car, feeling ridiculous for even having this conversation. “Just going to get dirty anyway, besides it rained the other day, surely that’s enough?”

“Are you serious? That’s gross.” Maggie makes a gagging noise in revulsion.

“Man you need to get your ass down there and scrub up, you starting to stink worse than the walkers.” T-Dog calls from where he’s drying off besides the fire, his socks on a couple of sticks hanging above the flames.

“Want me to put on some perfume afterwards too?”

Carol interrupts again, walking closer to him with that look on her face, the gentle one that means she’s trying to be nice but get her point across. “It feels good Daryl, just go have a bath.”

“Mom how come I had to take a bath but Daryl doesn’t?”

At Carl’s question T-Dog pipes up, still toasting his socks and sounding like he’s just as annoyed by this pathetic fight. “Look you’re setting a bad example for the kid.”

“Ain’t my kid.” As if he cares anyway.

“Come on Daryl, I’ll keep watch for you.” And with that it’s settled, Rick is walking over to him, giving a nudge to his side and nodding for him to follow. He almost fights it some more, but damn if he hasn’t had enough of these people and their constant whining.

“Damn, if it’ll shut you guys up I’ll take a damned swim. Christ’s sake you people need to get your priorities sorted.”

He storms down to the pool, frustrated that these people had pushed him into this and didn’t seem to get where he was coming from. Rick follows behind him, carrying his gun and Daryl knows he can hear him laughing behind him down the trail. “You always been like this when it comes to baths? I bet your mom had a great time trying to wrangle you in.”

He is not going to be talking to Rick about his mother, nor anything else if he could help it. Right now he was just going to do as they wanted as quickly as possible. “Ain’t never seen the point in ‘em. Just gonna get dirty again anyway. Waste of time and energy.”

“Well if you don’t want to do it for yourself, at least do it for the group. They have a point Daryl, you do stink.”

Rolling his eyes Daryl has to admit that as much as he doesn’t want to do this, he’s pleased it’s only Rick here with him. He’s never been comfortable with groups and stripping down to his underwear in front of the other guys would just bring up stares and questions about his back. At least Rick has already seen them and knew not to ask. It was still a situation he’d rather not be in, but at least he knew Rick respected him enough to not try and make him anymore uncomfortable than he has to be.

Wading into the water he doesn’t give himself time to complain about the chill in the water, instead he ducks beneath the surface to immerse himself entirely, surfacing with a gasp as his nerves feel the tingle all over. Sure the sun had warmed it a little throughout the day, but the water was still pretty damned cold even if it was clear. Shaking his hair out like a dog he swims a few strokes back and forth, just wasting time before he has to get out and get dry. As soon as he gets to his feet and starts making his way back to the edge, Rick interrupts him.

“That’s it?”

“I got wet didn’t I?”

“Yeah but you didn’t get clean.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Seriously?”

Daryl can feel the blush heat up his cheeks and he folds his arms over his chest self consciously as Rick gapes at him. He feels like an idiot and having Rick stare at him like that whilst perched on his rock at the poolside is just rubbing it in even more. He’s used to feeling different compared to the rest of the group, like the odd man out more often than not, but this was just a real emphasis on how different his life had been. “Ain’t like anyone ever bothered to teach me how.”

For what it’s worth Rick doesn’t laugh and the grin on his face falls to a more sombre look when he hears Daryl’s response. When he stands up and begins taking off his belt and holster, Daryl actually takes a step back, memories causing an immediate response as he remembers exactly what belts were used for when he’d been a disappointment before. To his relief Rick doesn’t say anything, and instead starts removing his shirt and pants, slipping off the rock and into the pool easily, wading over with the basket of cleaning supplies even though he’d just got out. “Well I could use another bath anyway. First of all you’ve got to be naked.”

He snorts at that, taking a step back as Rick advances and not unfolding his arms where they covered his chest. “You’ve got a wife Grimes.”

“Daryl if you’re going to get clean then you need to get clean everywhere.” And with a wriggle and a flourish Rick had somehow gotten out of his own underwear and tossed it to the rock with his other clothes. “No funny business I swear, besides you’re not my type.”

Taking a chance he copies the action, throwing his underwear back to the shore before folding his arms again, covering himself and feeling even more conscious of his scars now that Rick was closer. He hoped the other man realised just how much trust he was giving him here. “All right, am I clean yet?”

“Not even close.”

Rick places the basket between them, letting it bob there in the water and giving Daryl something else to focus on besides his own nudity and scars. Trying to calm himself down he lets out a breath and studies the various bottles and items in the basket, finding himself more confused than before. “Do I need to use all of these?”

“No, just the basic ones. Let’s get your hair washed.” Rick hooks a bottle out of the basket, gesturing to Daryl and giving an understanding smile when he has no understanding of what he wants. “Hold out your hands.”

Doing so he wrinkles his nose as the ridiculously pink goop is squeezed into his palm, watching as Rick does the same for himself before moving his hands up to card through his hair. It’s humiliating, but he follows Rick’s lead and does the same, wondering exactly how in the hell this is meant to be helping. So far he’s just added more crap to his hair and it just feels sticky, not helpful at all.

“No not like that, you need to rub it in, get it right in to the scalp and get all the dirt out. And make sure you get behind the ears.”

“This is ridiculous.” He sighs, feeling completely stupid and just wanting this to be over.

“But it works, look at the colour of the soap, shows it’s working. Tilt your head back, if you get it in your eyes it stings like a bitch.”

“I feel like an idiot.”

“Yeah but you’ll smell much better. Come here you missed a bit.”

Daryl flinches at the sudden contact but Rick’s fingers go still in his hair, just holding him steady whilst he tries to relax again, not moving until he’s let out a breath. He gives a tiny nod, and Rick begins massaging his scalp, his touch is gentle but firm, giving enough pressure to get more of the dirt out.

“All right, duck under and rinse it out, run your fingers through your hair and get all the suds out. You don’t want to leave any in or it gets greasier faster. Or so Lori tells me. I don’t think my hair’s ever been long enough to notice a difference.” To his credit Rick is making this a bit easier, or at least as easy to bear as Daryl figures it could be. The other man’s voice is normal as ever, as if this was nothing out of the ordinary and Rick regularly helped people bathe properly.

“This is the longest mine’s ever been.” He admits, hoping that Rick would see the little bit of personal information as a thank you.

“You want it cut?”

“Nah, I’m getting used to it.” He doesn’t feel the need to mention that Merle’s the only person he’s ever trusted with scissors near his head. That was too much information to give out and besides he didn’t need Rick knowing any more about his brother than he had to. The man would just see it as a reason to start feeling guilty all over again. “Clean yet?”

“Your hair is, but the rest of you still needs some work.”

Letting his hands drop to hit the water he lets the splash illustrate his annoyance. “How much more can there be?”

“Here, body wash.” Rick squirts some of the lemon scented gel onto a sponge and handing it to him. “This is what you need to get clean. And don’t just smear it all over, you’ve got to scrub until your skin is pink.”

“Are you serious? People put that much effort into this?” Glaring at the sponge he wonders if Rick is playing with him and this is all a ruse to get him wasting time. But if that were the case he didn’t think Rick would have them strip completely. Giving a noise of displeasure he starts scrubbing at his chest and arms, feeling the sponge dig in as the foam coated his skin.

“You think this is effort?” Rick chuckles, scrubbing himself with another sponge, at least having to decency to keep focuses on cleaning himself again instead of watching Daryl. “You should see what the women do. Be pleased we don’t have the social pressure to shave our legs or underarms.”

“Urgh.” It was bad enough having to learn how to shave his face, between Merle’s lessons full of yelling and his dad’s half hearted attempts he was stunned he still had a face left. Scrubbing beneath his underarms he has to admit that the smell he’s scrubbing away is pretty vile and maybe he could see where the others had been coming from. But that was just the smell of a hard working man.

“Need more soap?”

“Yeah.” He continues scrubbing, getting his arms and rinsing until he can actually see skin without a smear of dirt on it. It’s a strange sight, almost as if he’s rubbing away something that’s almost a part of him. Glancing to his chest he thinks of it as somehow scrubbing off his tattoos, and just how much more naked he feels despite not being able to remove any more clothes.

Rick shifts in the water and Daryl pauses when he moves closer, gesturing for him to turn around and face away. “Let me get your back.” The thought of it automatically makes him tense. Rick has seen his scars before but that doesn’t mean he needs to get close enough to be able to examine them properly. For what it’s worth Rick doesn’t touch him immediately, he just pauses and waits until Daryl gives a stiff nod, moving to scrub at his back in gentle circles.

He wants to tell him he doesn’t need to be gentle. That the scars stopped aching years ago and he would rather it was done faster than have Rick linger. Instead he hunches his shoulders and lets Rick do what he needs to, scrubbing at the dirt and trying not to let him see how uncomfortable this makes him feel.

The water is cold and he has to wrap his arms around his chest to try and keep some of his body heat in. Rick doesn’t seem bothered behind him, probably used to a quick wash and ignoring the heat of the water. Shivering a little when the wind whistles through he ducks his head, digging his toes into the rocks on the bottom of the pool and wanting it to be done with. “Done yet?” He grumbles, trying to keep his teeth from chattering.

“Yeah almost. Just last few bits.” Rick tends to keep his voice level when he’s around him, and right now is no different. Not only is his touch understanding, but it’s also never too much, it’s never enough to make him feel like getting away.

“This is taking far too long.”

“But you’re doing great.” Rick lifts the sponge and wrings it out, letting the water wash away the soap and foam from Daryl’s back before moving to his side again.  “Legs and feet next.”

Shivering slightly he wishes he could just swim back and forth, standing still like this was cold and he really was sick of being wet. His fingers were starting to prune and his hair kept dripping down his face. Still he does as he’s told, lifting one leg from the water at a time and making sure he’s deep enough in the pool not to embarrass himself. Setting down his feet again he glances over himself, hoping that Rick would have the answer he wanted now. “We done yet?”

“Just the last part. The only bit we haven’t done.” Rick doesn’t have to say exactly what he means, Daryl can figure it out and he grimaces before turning his back to Rick again, taking his sponge and loading it with soap.

“You’re not helping me with that.”

“Wasn’t going to offer.”

The next few minutes are spent in silence, Daryl focussing on facing away from Rick and scrubbing at himself beneath the water. He doesn’t think about it, just gets the job done, ignoring that Rick is even there at all and thinking more about the chill in the air and not the flush on his cheeks. When he figures there’s not much more he can do he remains facing away, not wanting to turn back if Rick wasn’t done. “Okay finally, can we get out now?” He clears his throat, trying not to seem awkward, but knowing it’s more than obvious.

“Yep, dry yourself off, put on your pants and I’ll show you what to do next.” Glancing over his shoulder Daryl sees that Rick is facing away from the rocks where their towels lay, warming in the evening sun. Taking the opportunity offered he wades out of the water, grabbing a towel and drying himself off as quickly as he can before yanking on his pants, leaving his still wet underwear aside. He figures he could leave them, he had a couple of spares and really those were completely ruined.

When he’s covered enough to feel as comfortable as he can, he clears his throat again, to get Rick’s attention without having to turn around as the other man gets out of the water and grabs the free towel. “How is there more?” He explains.

“Deodorant.” Rick is similarly dressed in his own jeans, grabbing at more things from the basket and shaking them when he comes into Daryl’s view. “Smelly stuff that stops you from stinking so quick. It goes under your arms.”

“You’re going to make me smell like a god damned woman.” Daryl complains but lifts his arms up without much of a fuss, letting Rick spray the cold compressed air beneath them and making him take a step back at the sudden sensation. That was not something he was going to be repeating if he could help it.

“Good, women smell better.”

“You know all the animals are going to smell me coming right? When we don’t have any meat for the next few days I don’t want any complaining since you were all so desperate for me to get clean.” Watching Rick spray himself he sits on the rock to grab at his socks and shoes, tugging them on as Rick perches beside him to copy the act.

“Just stay downwind, you’ll be fine. Least this way the girls will be able to stay within three feet of you without holding their noses.”

Sighing to himself Daryl gives up the arguing, he’d already given in, why bother wasting his breath? “I’m done, that’s enough.” He brushes off Rick when he tries to offer more bottles and sprays of something or other to him, he’s had enough of this now, he’d played his part and he was done. The day was ending and his patience had just about been all used up. ”I’m clean. I’m done.”

“All right fair enough. You did good and I know everyone will appreciate you doing something you didn’t want to just to make them happy.”

“Whatever.” He grumbles to himself, yanking on his shirt and jacket, making sure he was completely covered before starting to make his way back up the trail. He could hear Rick following him, probably carrying the basket of cleaning shit and feeling pleased with himself. “Ain’t doing that again.” He’d hated every moment of it, and even though he’d tried his best to towel himself off his clothes were still sticking to his damp skin in an uncomfortable manner.

“Would you be against keeping your face and hands clean as much as possible though? For the group?”

“I’ll try but I ain’t keeping any promises.”

“Good enough for me.” Rick sounds so laid back about it all and Daryl can tell he knows he’s going to give in and do as he’s asked. When a towel is shoved on the back of his head and hangs over his face he spins back to scowl at Rick, annoyed by the other man’s amusement at all of this. “I’d dry your hair off, otherwise Maggie and Beth are going to want to help, maybe even give you some braids of your own.”

“Hell no that ain’t happening.” Grabbing the towel he roughly drags it back and forth over his head, making sure to get as much of the water out of his hair as possible. He knows the Greene girls are only trying to help in their own way and to them this whole being clean thing was important, but they were not going to get anymore than he’d already given them. “I’m clean enough and we ain’t playing makeovers.”

“You’ve done enough Daryl, we can’t ask for anymore than what you’ve done for us.” As they reach the edge of the camp Daryl keeps the towel draped about his neck as Rick moves off with one last pat to his shoulder. “We appreciate it.”

Giving a nod is about as far as he goes with acknowledging the thanks before moving away to the van he was crashing in tonight. His skin is still uncomfortable, damp and clammy next to his clothes as he tries to find a comfortable way to settle. Giving a groan of frustration he can smell himself and it’s far too different from what he’s used to. Everything is too fresh and light, there’s no thickness to his smell any more, no musk and heavy scent of a life outside.

Reaching up to finger comb his hair he does not understand why anyone would want to have it like this. It’s all smooth and shiny, easy to play with and not the usual knotty snarl at the back like it used to be. It just doesn’t feel right, it doesn’t feel like him and god it’s just like he’s uncomfortable in his own skin. Resting back against the bags and peering through the window of the truck he can see the girls all glancing over to him with smiles on their faces, giving him small waves and giggling.

Rolling onto his side he turns away to snatch up his arrows and sharpen them as best he could, to take his mind off the absence of dirt and grime on his skin. It’s like someone had taken away something he was so used to having, like everything he’s used to keep himself hidden from others had been stripped away and left him as naked as he had been in the water. Now he was clean and noticeable, sweet smelling and horrifyingly normal.

Holding his arrow between his teeth he hunts through his pack to find the flint he used for sharpening, ignoring the sound of the group interacting outside and being so happy about being clean. He couldn’t wait for the morning, he’d head out before dawn, start tracking early and get himself feeling back to normal. Deer tracking meant he needed to be stealthy and low, and if he had to lie in the dirt and lose the scent of shampoo and body wash beneath the earthy scent of the Georgia woodland, then so be it. He’d given them one night of lenience and done what they wanted.

Tomorrow was a day for him to get back to being himself and feeling comfortable, he’d spent all night learning how to make them comfortable, tomorrow was his turn. Daryl figured that was only fair.


End file.
